Project XYZ
by Unavailableaccount.Noaccess
Summary: As Serena struggles with her daily life, she made the decision to start over again from the beginning after the van incident. Despite the restrictions from the court, she manages to do some illegal activities in order to get what she wants while still trying to avoid trouble. In the meantime, while she travels through Kalos along with her friends, the region plunges into a crisis.
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**Authors pre-note**

"Project X.Y.Z." is my first attempt at writing a "fan fiction" story as I wanted to test out my writing skills and comprehension. I was planning to name the title "X.Y.Z." instead, but since I'm experimenting with the story I added "Project" to the title as well (in which I will keep in future fan stories related to Pokémon). Without regard, **any criticism/feedback is definitely appreciated**. The updates will not be frequently since I'm typing, editing, and revising the content (or outlining and planning for short). Another reason is that I also study at university for finance & control, but I'll do my best to keep up with the story.

I want to give a clear warning that this story contains violence with some of it may found very disturbing. It's not that the story is intolerable, but the idea behind it is still disturbing or even considered cruel. It also includes social and political themes (referring to corruption, espionage, warfare, et cetera), and a bit of lemon explicit content (only at specific moments, not as a whole as this is not the focus. I might ask a different author who is experienced with this for advice). To keep it short, it's M-rated due to reasons stated above. Don't say that I didn't **warn you** about it.

I'd also like to point out a few disclaimers. I **do not own** the 'Pokémon' franchise, nor do I own any of the weapons, cars, etc. mentioned in the story. 'Pokémon' is owned by Game Freak, Creatures Inc. and Nintendo, while the weapons, cars, etc. are owned by their respective companies. The front cover was made in MikuMikuDance (a 3D program used to make animations or rendered images). The models that have been used in the cover, belong to their respective owners. This fan fiction is meant for **entertainment purposes only, not for commercial use** like making a profit out of it.

And at last, the side notes. I wanted to write this realistically as I can. For example with currency, since Kalos is based on France. In the past, they made use of the franc before it was replaced by the euro (€) in 2002. So a max repel spray cost around 7.- K₣ (Kalosian franc). For the story, however, it takes place in an **alternate universe and timeline **of the game and manga (referring to Pokémon Adventures), which means that **there are some changes from the core series**. It also means that the **characters will feel slightly different from their normal perspectives** (out of character in other words), but that's because of the setting and theme during the progression of this story.

As for the Pokémons… I'm sorry to state this, but they're all getting **nerfed** in this story. That doesn't mean that they're completely powerless or weak. Pokémons are still stronger than humans and some moves can still destroy things like buildings, cars, etc., but they don't have the power to completely destroy the whole planet (including legendaries). The last thing I would state is that the characters will speak in their native languages (Japanese, French, etc. at some points mentioned by the narrator. It's most often long conversations which are put in between these brackets "「…」", except with shorter ones like greetings or basic phrases in which the translation is put in the author's post-note.

Well, that concludes everything. I hope you enjoy yourself reading this story, as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

**CHAPTER 0: Prologue**

* * *

_**10 December 2012, 08:15 A.M.**_

As the sun rose in the sky, a group of six men wearing cloaks and masks went inside a cave along with two mightyenas, a mawile, and two noctowls. Upon entering, they see their shadows dissolve into the surrounding chilling darkness. They turned their headlights on, and it revealed a mid-distance where they saw stalagmites, holes, and a small waterfall.

"Here it is. This is the place where the cores and cells are."

Small, loose pieces of stones fell from the ceiling and littered the floor, "Watch your step everyone, and don't make too much noise."

One of the six grabbed a max repel out of his pocket and started spraying himself.

"I've got some repel over here, anyone else?" he whispered.

The other five shook their head and one replied, "No, we've already coated ourselves before. Just move on. You three walk up on the front and scout the area."

"What about you guys?"

"Don't worry. We may be slow since we carry our pickaxes, but we got you covered. Now move."

They proceeded to go deeper inside. Their surroundings became darker as well as the area became narrower, only revealing the crumbled walls like walking in a tunnel. The pokémons felt a chill through their bodies as the other felt moist due to the damp. However, one of them saw something shining from a distance, "Hey, I think I see something glowing over there!"

As they walked further, a pupitar suddenly jumped in front of the group. It stared at them as it squinted its eyes. The six and their pokémon began to tremble as they feel their hearts beating faster.

"What the-? I thought the repel would've lasted longer!"

"The scent probably wore off after a while."

"Well, don't just stand there, do something! Noctowl, tackle that shell!" Noctowl flew with a rapid speed against pupitar's shell hitting it with his shoulder. Tiny bits of shell pieces fell on the ground from the hit.

"You two, crunch that shell!" The two mightyenas leapt at the pupitar and attempted to bite through its shell, to no avail. All of a sudden, the group felt the ground shaking. The tremors grew more and more violent as pupitar locked its gaze on the interlopers, its expression savage.

"Wa-watch out!"

Before anyone could react, the ceiling began to cave in. Large chunks of rock were dislodged and dropped onto three of the members of the group, along with the pair of mightyenas and the noctowl. There was no mistaking as the damage had killed them instantly.

"Shit!" shouted one of the group. "C' mon, we gotta get the hell outta here!"

"No, we have to go on!" another yelled. "Mawile, use your flash cannon!"

The pokémon obliged and fired a beam of massive energy in the direction of the pupitar. When the burst of light from the attack faded, the pupitar was left with a gaping hole in its shell, and it suddenly collapsed. "He's down…" said one of the group's members, breathing heavily. "Move up and check your surroundings. If there's any more, exterminate it."

"What about our pickaxes?"

"It's no use, it got crushed under along with them."

The three who remained looked everywhere but found nothing, pokémon or otherwise.

"Nothing here. Let's move on."

"Hold it… Spray yourself with the remaining repels you have. Otherwise, we'll be doing this over again."

The three and their pokémon went further in. Lights from above shine down on the rocky ground and walls as the area became wider. Suddenly, they heard a weird noise.

"Hey! Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, it came from that chamber over there. Let's take a closer look."

Upon entering the chamber, their eyes widened, and they were stunned nearly into silence.

"Get a hold of this…" one of them murmured. "Jeez... It's unbelievable."

"Well, I suppose these are the remaining ones," said another. "I don't see any more cells or cores. I'm going to call a chopper." He pulled out his phone and a pair of poké balls, then turned to face mawile and the remaining noctowl. "You two, back to your poké balls."

After the pokémon were returned to their poké balls, two of the group's members grabbed some pickaxes from a broken mine cart and started to carve in the glowing cells and cores while the third called for a helicopter. In no time, they had mined out the whole sector. Finished with their task, the three pushed the mine cart they'd filled with their quarry towards the hole in the ceiling, where the light of day shined through from above.

A helicopter waited above the sky. Several hooks attached to the sturdy cable were released into the gap, and the men worked to securely attach them to the mine cart. When it was done, one of them jumped on the cart and shouted to the other two.

"C' mon, hop on up!" The other two jumped on the cart while being escalated to the helicopter at the same time.

"Cargo secured, return to base…" And the helicopter flew away.

* * *

_**17 December 2012, 08:53 P.M.**_

The atmosphere became darkened and the sloshing water dropping on the rotor blades while Lila and Looker flew to Kalos by helicopter. Looker was sleeping during the trip while Lila was awake, constantly fighting her yawning and keeping her drowsy eyes open. At some point, when Lila looked out the window, she saw the airfield lights of an airstrip. She then decided to wake Looker up.

「"Looker, wake up. We're almost there,"」 said Lila, speaking in Japanese.

Looker cracked open one eye and snapped irritably, 「"Hey, stop bothering me! I'm trying to sleep!"」

Lila glared at him, clenching her fists. 「"Come on, cut it out!" 」 she insisted, her tone harsh. 「"We're going to meet the inspector general soon, so at least show some respect! Do you understand!"」

Looker turned his head away from her, yawning. 「"Yeah, whatever,"」 he grumbled, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes.

When the helicopter had landed on the airstrip, the two took out their luggage, opened the doors, and stepped out of the aircraft. The rain was coming down heavily, so they opened their umbrellas and walked over to a nearby van where a man was waiting. He came to them with a smile on his face.

"Bonjour, welcome to Kalos!" he greeted. "The name's Axel, pleased to meet you!" He extended a hand and exchanged a firm handshake with each of them.

"Nice to meet you too," Looker replied, switching to French. "I'm Looker, and this is Lila."

Axel giggled and joked, "I hope the long trip didn't result in any casualties. It's raining out here like crazy!"

Looker chuckled a bit, responding, "Well…it was a long flight from Hoenn, but at least we arrived in one piece, right Lila?"

Lila nodded, but merely stayed silent, just keeping an eye on Looker. As the two put their luggage in the back of the van, they stepped in and Axel began to drive away from the airport.

"Were you two awake the whole time?" asked Axel. "You look kinda pale."

Looker yawned and answered, "Well, it's because we thought that we would arrive here much sooner. Even my superior was constantly looking outside for land. But don't worry. We'll recover from that." He paused, frowning. "Hey, wait… Don't we have to go through customs first?"

"There's no need for it," Axel replied. "We've already registered your data in our system back when I asked you two to send a copy of your trainer IDs and passports by email. We've even provided the money by leaving two filled suitcases on the desk at your new bureau." He looked back at them through the rear-view mirror and his expression became stern. "But back to business… You've probably heard about the incident from a week ago? At the cave in the east?"

"Yeah. We heard it from our commissioner general," Lila said. "That mine cave, right?" Axel nodded. "Indeed. Since the incident, the mountain area has been closed off. Our intelligence team is still there investigating the area."

Looker tapped his index finger on his chin. "I wonder…what do you want us to do about it?"

"I want you to investigate the coastal part. People were saying that they saw trucks with glowing cargo passing by between Route 12 and 13. Start in Coumarine city, and work your way down to Cyllage city. You'll be travelling back and forth, but I want you two to secure every single truck with the glowing stuff inside."

Once they arrived in the northern part of Lumiose City, the van stopped in an alleyway.

"Here we are," said Axel. "I'll open the door for you." He stepped out of the van and approached one of the doors in the alley. Once it was unlocked, he walked to the back of the van. "I'll grab the luggage; you two go inside." He proceeded to get the luggage as the other two went in.

The lights went on as she entered the room, revealing their offices with one at the back and one at the left of Lila with the suitcases on them. They heard a static noise, as it was a television hanging on the wall. Looker walked to it and turned it off. "Wow, It feels like an office and a living room at the same time," said Lila surprisingly. "What'd you think, Looker?"

They walked to their office desks and took a closer look, "I guess. We have the same thing in our region, but this feels more classical. I do have to say that the furniture feels comfortable. Heh, there's even a kitchen!"

Axel came in with their luggage, as he noticed the two we're examining the place. "I see you two are impressed by the looks of it" he giggled. "I'll put your luggage here right in front of me." He peeked at his watch and saw that It was half-past eleven, "Well, I have to go now. Otherwise, it'll be too late for me."

Lila looked back at Axel and gave him a smile. "Thank you so much for the drive and carrying our things. Take care and good night!"

"You're welcome!" Axel grinned at her. "I'll keep in touch with you guys. Until then, get some rest. You'll want to have the energy for tomorrow. Good night!" He waved, then returned to his van and drove off.

With Axel gone, Lila and Looker headed upstairs. Lila took a shower while Looker changed his clothes and went to bed. After Lila was finished and changed, she came to the bedroom and walked to her own bed. She untied her ponytail and let her hair come down. She laid in her bed and wrapped the surrounding blankets.

Looker was quiet for a moment, but eventually, he tried to talk to her in Japanese. 「"Ms Lila, I'm really sorry for my bad behaviour back then. I was just very tired from the trip."」

Lila switched back to Japanese to reply, 「"I understand. I was pretty tired, too."」She offered him a smile. 「"Well, I'm off to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an important day. We'll be leaving here at half past five in the morning, so you better set your alarm. Good night, Looker."」

Looker sluggishly set an alarm on his phone, then yawned and turned off the lights. 「"Good night, Lila."」

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's post-note**

That concludes the prologue as I try to keep it as short as possible. That also goes for the upcoming chapters keeping it at an average amount of at least 3.5k to 4.5k words. Some chapters may go overboard due to the events happening. You may have noticed that I republished this chapter, as I discovered a few errors which are corrected.

Please feel free to leave a response or suggestion in the review, as I will try to reply to each of them. I also want to thank those who left a review for their time and thoughts.

_Translations_

Bonjour (Hello)


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's pre-note**

Firstly, I want to address that this chapter took me about two to three weeks to write, especially with the fact that it fell during the exam week. I had to take a break sometimes in order to fully prepare myself for the tests. Therefore, my apologies to those that waited for this update.

**Warning_: _**The following story contains violence, strong language, social and political themes, and lemon explicit content.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the 'Pokémon' franchise, nor do I own any of the weapons, cars, etc. mentioned in the story. 'Pokémon' is owned by Game Freak, Creatures Inc. and Nintendo, while the weapons, cars, etc. are owned by their respective companies.

"「…」" is only used in long sentences when characters speak their native languages.

"_Italics" _are used for character thoughts.

"Horizontal lines" are used to separate calendar dates, time skips, or long chapters (not to be confused with ↓ these ones or at the end of the chapter).

* * *

**ACT I: Antipathy**

**CHAPTER 1**

* * *

_**21 December 2012, 04:12 PM**_

A cool breeze of the wind blew against the face of a little girl. She covered her mouth with her scarf while she was playing with her candy floss pokémon near the fountain. She looked at her left and saw a woman standing at a short distance near a green building with a poké ball light sign hanging on the wall.

"Darling, come on!" she called. "Mommy's going to get some groceries at the poké mart!"

"Oh, I'm coming mom! Let's go swirlix before we catch a cold!"

She ran to her mother along with swirlix and they went inside the mart. Lounge music played on the little speakers hanging on the wall; the noise came from customers doing their shopping and employees doing their work. The mother grabbed a shopping cart and they both walked to the shelves where the potions were stored.

Meanwhile, in a small staffroom, a young woman with short hair sat behind the table while her tiny robin pokémon stood next to the radio on her right playing pop music. She grabbed her lightened cigarette from the ashtray and sucked on the filter, inhaling the smoke deep through her lungs, and blew it on the table to the right. The pokémon started to cough from the nicotine smell and she started to chirp at her.

"Oh, sorry Fletchy," she puffed. "I didn't saw you there. I'll blow the smoke away from you in the air." But Fletchy started to peck her as she jumped closer to her hand reaching her beak to her cigarette.

"Hey, stop it!" she barked while slapping the little bird away from her cigarette. "I said I was sorry!" She kept pecking her trainer, but eventually, she puts her cigarette down in the ashtray and grabs the pokémon with both her hands.

"There, gotcha!" She stood up and walked to a small cage while Fletchy tried to break free. The cage was already open, and she put her hands inside of it letting go of the tiny robin. The young woman quickly closed the gate as Fletchy flew towards it. She turned the key to lock the gate and went back to her chair while Fletchy bit on the thick barriers of the cage.

"I'll let you go when I'm finished with work," she said and sat down on the chair. She grabbed her cigarette with her left hand while tuning the radio with her right. A minute later, the static noise became silent while a woman's voice came out of the radio speaker presenting the following statement.

"Mass groups of protesters from all across the region, have gathered at Autumnal Avenue in Lumiose City. They marched through the streets, accusing President Petain of his lack of strategic policing skills and demanding to reform tax policies and give more jobs, as a lot of them closed down due to a lack of capital. Riot police are currently holding them back from trying to break into the parliament. Furthermore..."

At the same time, the young woman grabbed a newspaper in front of her. She blinked owlishly at the blurred text and wore her reading glasses. While turning through the pages, she stumbled upon a page filled with puzzles. She then grabs her pen and examined the number puzzle while the news on the radio was still going on.

"... With the five-year plan being introduced for 2013–2018, the parliament and the cabinet seemed to be uncertain whether these plans would be achieved. Especially with the budget cut on health insurances, education, and support from the government. That concludes the news summary for today. I'm Alexa, and you're listening to KCNA FM."

The news ended and it jumped right to the music part playing gamelan music. She turned the volume down slightly while taking another smoke from her cigarette and tapped the bud above the ashtray where the ashes fell in. While she was crosshatching the puzzle, she heard a door being opened that smacked against the wall. She suddenly turned her head to left and her heart started to pound.

A man came in with the veins popping on his head. "Serena! What're you doing here!"

"Oh, it's you, Aubert," she replied and calmed down. "I'm trying to solve a Sudoku puzzle. What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" He shouted again. "Shouldn't you be helping your other colleagues in the storage room with the roller containers instead of solving puzzles? You know that it's very busy during the Christmas season!"

Her eyebrows drew together while her head tilted slightly to the right. "Huh, more rollers? I thought I finished it with Benjamin and Annette. You only wanted to check the inventory at this time, right?"

He held the doorframe with his left hand while pointing his right finger at the calendar hanging next to him on the left, "Then you didn't listen yesterday. Look, I planned it on tomorrow Saturday, not today! Now get out there and help them with the roll containers in the storage room!"

"No! You said Friday during yesterday's work meeting!"

Aubert crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's not get into arguments now. Or else, you don't have to come back here! Now get up and help them!"

Serena got up and turned the radio off while putting her cigarette out in the ashtray. She looked away from her boss squinting her eyes.

"Vaffanculo," she grumbled and took her reading glasses off.

Aubert's eyes open widely. "Come again!"

"I-I mean I'm coming soon!" She shuddered. "I just need to clean the table. Give me some time, okay?" She grabbed a paper towel from a dispenser that hanged above the sink, held it under the water tap, and turned the lever to the right pushing it up. The water streamed all over the towel, becoming soaked. After pushing the lever down, she then walked back to the table and started cleaning.

"Alright, I'll see you there within ten minutes." And he left while shutting the door behind his back.

After cleaning the table, she threw the wet paper towel in the trash bin and went out of the room. There were fewer customers than before while Serena's staff members were cleaning the floor and reorganising the shelves. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall behind the cashier.

"Half past four," she mumbled. "Only thirty minutes to go before the weekend. Too bad I have to work tomorrow. Maybe I'll take a day off who knows…"

She walked to the shelves were the repels were stored and opened the door on her right to the storage room. One of the lights at the back was constantly flickering. She shivered a bit as someone left the back door open while waving her hand in front her face from the cardboard smell. Benjamin and Annette were sorting out the containers.

Benjamin frowned to her. "There you are! Come and help us with the containers!"

Serena walked in and closed the door behind her. "Yeah I'm coming, but first off let me close the back door. This place feels like an ice cave." She looked around and frowned with her eyebrows. "By the way, where's Aubert?"

"He left seven minutes ago," Annette replied. "He had to pick his kids at the kindergarten in Versant Road."

"What!" Serena yelled. "He's such a prick! He told me to hurry to sort these containers, and yet he leaves us behind like that! Not to say that he wanted to check the inventory today instead of tomorrow! Does that guy even know what he wants!"

She sighed as she walks to the back door. "Whatever, I'm closing the door." And then came to the containers helping them to sort it out. A while later, the containers were empty as they sorted the products in the shelves. Serena looked around her at the walls.

"Great, no clock hanging here," She mumbled. "Hey, does someone know what time it is?"

Annette grabbed her phone out her pocket. "Oh, it's five past five!"

"Finally," Serena sighed. "Okay, I'm gonna check if everything's locked. You two can go change yourselves."

"Nah, I'm going straight home," yawned Benjamin as the exhaustion roughed his words. "I'm tired from all of this. You too, Annette?"

She nodded her head. "We'll be waiting for you outside." And they walked out of the store.

Serena locked the door and turned the lights off as she went outside of the storage room. She then walked to the staff room where she opened the cage for Fletchy.

"Let's go, Fletchy," Serena yawned. "We're going home." Fletchy flew out of the cage, but her beak trembled while she was chirping. Serena checked her surroundings and saw her glasses lying on the table.

"Oh! Almost forgot this one!" And she put it in her bag. There were no customers or employees around. She closed the door of the staff room and walked to the entrance door where she turned the lights off and walked out. She put a key in the locker of the entrance door.

"You two got everything?" she asked. "I'm about to close the shop."

"Yeah, I got all my stuff," Benjamin replied. "What about you Annette?"

"Me too, I just checked in the staff room if I didn't miss something." She looked up in the black sky, "Well, I'm going home. I see you guys tomorrow!" she smiled and went off.

"See you tomorrow!" both replied. Benjamin zipped his coat all the way to his chin. "Well, I'm off too. See you tomorrow, Serena!" And both waved their hands to each other as he left.

She turned her head to the left and saw a lady with curly pigtails at the distance standing at the gate to Vaniville pathway.

"Serena!" she yelled and ran towards her.

Her eyebrows raised while her mouth opened. "Shauna? I didn't expect to see you coming at this time. I was about to go home. What's up?"

"Well, I wanted to go out for tonight with the two of us!" Shauna replied. "I was thinking to start with a restaurant somewhere in Lumiose City." She tapped her shoulder bag with her right hand. "I'll pay for it today!"

She crossed her arms and pinched her eyebrows. "So far? I mean I like your idea, but there's also plenty enough of restaurants here too! Also, haven't you heard the news about the protests?"

Shauna tilted her head slightly to the left while putting her hands on her hips. "That's only happening at the northern part of the city. The south is still safe at least. And by the way, there're only a few restaurants in Aquacorde Town. I just wanted to go somewhere entertaining."

Serena closed her eyes. "Entertaining…" She half-opened it again. "…You do realise that it's not the best time to go there, right?"

"Oh, come on Serena!" barked Shauna while tilting forward. "It's weekend! Can't you just enjoy yourself for a bit?!

"Yeah, but I have to work tomorrow so why not-"

"Yeah, I get that! But you can't isolate yourself with going to work and going home all the time! I know that it's hard to deal with family problems, but you gotta break through!"

"Fine, I'll come with you then," sighed Serena. "As long as we don't stay there for too long." She turned the key to lock the door and took it out again. "Alright, shall we?

"Wait, don't you need to change your clothes?"

"Nah, it's fine. Besides, you can hardly notice my uniform since I'm wearing a coat."

"Well, if you say so..." Shauna put her hand on her shoulder. "The bridge is this way. I know a shortcut to Santalune City. Follow me!" And the two walked across the bridge entering the Avance Trail.

The grass stood tall as the wind blew from behind. A group of fletchlings flew out of the tree while two bunnelbies were digging in the ground searching for some carrots as the lanterns shone upon it. The two walked through the soft bed of the grass. Suddenly, a wild tiny racoon pokémon jumped on Shauna. The two bunnelbies stopped digging as they felt a knock in their hearts while their faces were stunned. They ran away to Santalune Forest.

"Hey get off me!" she screamed as she laid on the ground while the racoon stood on her, grabbing her bag with his mouth. "Hey, back off! That's mine, you thief!" She tried to push him away from her bag.

"A zigzagoon?" Serena cautioned. "Fletchy, quick attack!" Fletchy's body became outlined in red and she charged with a rapid speed striking the racoon against his stomach. The wild zigzagoon fell aside while aching from the pain. Shauna stood up and ran away from him.

"Serena, come on! This way!" yelled Shauna as she ran to the edge of the river. She took a few steps back and jumped across it, landing on the other side. "Alright, your turn!"

Serena ran towards the river. "Alright, here I-" Zigzagoon charged against her thighs with his head. "-Ugh!" She fell and laid on the ground while he snarled atop of her. She held him back by pushing his mouth.

Shauna's eyes opened widely. "Serena! Hold on, I'm coming!" She clenched her fists while taking a few steps back and jumped across the river again running towards the racoon. "Get off of her!" she screamed and picked a small rock from the ground. She threw it at him, but the racoon jumped forward while the rock hit his tail.

He ran towards Fletchy with a rapid speed as he pushed his head down. While Shauna helped Serena to get up on her feet, she turned her head and saw Fletchy being bashed by the racoon against her beak. She fell on the ground, but quickly picked herself up and saw the racoon making a hairpin turn while charging towards her with his head.

"Fletchy! Again, attack him again quickly!" Serena yelled. Fletchy flew in the mid-air avoiding his head-butt as her body glowed in red again. She charged with a hyper-speed against the racoon's face. He fell aside again, but he didn't give up. He got up and dug into the ground flinging the dirt against the tiny robin. The grain of dirt came into her eyes as she inhaled the dust as well. She fell down again, slammed her eyes shut while coughing the dirt out.

Serena's jaw went down while her eyebrows frowned, "Fletchy!" she yelled and looked at zigzagoon. "Why you little-" He turned his head to her, seeing a shoe flying against his face. "-Eat this!" The racoon's nose was bashed in by the sudden kick. He fell down on his side while his nose and mouth were bleeding. "And that!" Her right feet charged against his stomach, and he growled in agony. Shauna's eyebrows rose as she covered her mouth.

"That'll teach you a lesson!" Serena screamed and she ran to Fletchy. "Fletchy, you okay?" As she picked her up with both her hands, she chirped abruptly while coughing. "Thank goodness," Serena relieved. She then opened her bag rummaging through her stuff. She grabbed a blue spray with a cross sign on it and sprayed it on her wounded pokémon. "Here, you can rest in my pocket for a while." She put Fletchy in her right pocket with her head popping out.

Shauna, being stunned by the action, ran to the injured racoon. She went down on her knees and stroked the back of his fur. She heard zigzagoon breathing abnormally while aching from the pain.

Her lips trembled. "Poor thing." She got up while squatting, trying to grab the racoon with both her hands. The pressure in her muscles became heavier while trying to lift him up. "It's… too heavy." And she let go of him.

Serena looked at Shauna and asked, "Why're you helping him? He tried to attack both of us!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you have to hurt him like that!" Shauna replied. "I mean look what you've done to him! He can barely breathe or stand up on its feet! I'm taking him to the pokémon centre in Santalune! I'm gonna capture it instead." She rummaged in her bag and grabbed a round object with a button on it. She got up, took a few steps back, and threw the poké ball at him. His body became red and warped inside of it. The poké ball clicked instantly without any hesitation. Shauna grabbed the ball and looked through the transparency where the racoon lying on his side clenching his teeth. Her head hung low from seeing him suffering. She put the poké ball in her bag and turned to Serena.

"Let's go." And they both ran towards the edge and jumped across the river. "This way, across the hill!" The eerie wind blew at their back shivering the two while they walked up to the small hill. The two were frowning as their sight was darkened.

"I can't see anything…" Serena mumbled. She put her left hand in her bag and rummaged through her stuff. "Damn, I forgot my pocket light! Do you have any light with you?"

"No, I didn't think about it," Shauna replied. "But don't worry, just stick with me I know we're close!" After walking down the hill, they saw a light in the distance shining brightly, but it was covered in a cloud of brown smoke.

"Hey, we're close!" Shauna exclaimed. "But it's covered in a sort of sandstorm!" They ran closer to the light and jumped over the bricked fence.

While coming in, there was a lot of noise from a distance as well as their sight was slightly covered in the smog. A statue of spiked head flower pokémon popped out as it stood atop of the fountain while the polluted water sparkled out of its flowers. Cars were standing in the line on their way to the Parterre Way that leads to Lumiose City. A few people and pokémon were outside covering their mouths while some of them were wearing gas or surgical masks. The two ladies covered their mouth while coughing at the same time as they smelled the scent of the fumes.

"Gosh, that ain't no sandstorm! It smells like car exhaust! Serena coughed. "Are they constructing something?!"

"Yeah, it's coming from there!" Shauna replied and points her right index finger to the cranes at the far distance behind the pokémon centre. "Quick, let's go inside!"

As the two ran inside the centre, two women wearing surgical masks came into the city from the north by scooter and drove to a golden green building in front of the construction area where they stopped.

"I can't believe it… are they still busy behind my gym?" She grumbled. "I mean, what's the president thinking about building a poké ball factory over there? Doesn't he understand that it's polluting the whole city?"

"I get what you're saying, Viola," the other replied. "Although I think the president wanted to-"

"Wanted what! It's only affecting our health, Alexa! Look around you, this city is supposed to stay clean from all this mess! I swear if I took part in this, I would've scrapped this idea and dump it to the Lumiose Badlands where it belongs!"

Alexa's head went down and sighing, "Right… Let's just go inside, sis. I'm exhausted from working all day at the central news agency." They both parked their scooters next to the pedestals of the gym. After locking their bikes to a rack with their chain lockers, Alexa put her right hand onto Viola's left shoulder and they both walked inside.

Meanwhile, inside the pokémon centre, the nurse placed the poké ball and Fletchy on a healing station where it showed an image of a fletchling and a zigzagoon on the display. She turned the switch to the right and the two started to glow while the machine made a cheering sound.

"Thank you for waiting," the nurse chortled and gave the two pokémons back to Shauna. "They're fully restored. We hope to see you again!" And she bowed to her.

Shauna walked to a table and sat down on a chair. She put the poké ball in her bag while letting Fletchy rest in her arms. She saw Serena at a small mart behind the healing station.

"Two potions and one pack Gitanes, please," Serena requested and the cashier behind the counter grabbed the pack and potions, and placed it on the counter desk.

"That'll be 12.30 K₣, please." the cashier replied.

She grabbed her wallet out the front pocket of her bag and gave him two coins worth around 15.- K₣. "Thank you." He grabbed the coins while opening the cash register and swapped it for five coins. "Here's your exchange. 70 centimes and 2.- K₣."

Serena opened her right hand and he gave the money to her where she put it in her wallet. She then gave him a smile. "Thank you!"

The cashier smiled back to her. "You're welcome. Please, come again!" And she walked away.

Shauna blinked her eyes and stood up saying, "All done?" Serena nodded her head while looking at Fletchy that was sleeping in Shauna's arms. "Oh yeah, here." She gave Fletchy back to her and Serena put it back in her right pocket.

She looked at the clock hanging above the healing station. "Oh, it's just quarter to seven."

"Still enough time before everything's full at the restaurant!"

The two walked to the door when suddenly, she stopped while her eyebrows rose up. "Wait a minute. Why not just hire a taxi to the city?"

"We could do that, but what if we get stuck in a traffic jam?"

Serena stroked her chin while holding her hip. "Hm… You're right. Well, I suppose we'll go by walking then. Even if it takes longer."

"Better cover your mouth again," Shauna warned. "Once we come outside, we run straight to the gate at the north." Serena and Shauna covered their mouth as they went outside pinching their eyes.

"Ugh, that smell again! C'mon let's rush to the gate!" Serena coughed.

They ran with their way to the gate and left the city.

* * *

While walking through the 4th route, a young teenager sat on the edge of the fountain. He had different kinds of potions that laid in front of him. Suddenly, he glimpsed at the two girls that were walking by.

"Hey, any interest in buying one of my potions?" he advertised.

Shauna stopped and walked to the potions. "Well, actually-"

Serena then grabbed Shauna's hand and pulled her away. "Sorry, we have no interest. Maybe next time!" And they both walked away from him.

"Wait! I can sell it to you for a good-" But She didn't listen while Shauna stared at the potions. Suddenly, the teenager started to chase them, "Come back! I can sell it to you for a good price! How about 5.- K₣?"

They both started to run while Serena shouted. "Yeah, how about you getting a job, you creep!" And he stopped, clenching his fists and teeth while walking back the fountain.

"Ahw, we could've bought one of those potions!" Shauna bragged. "I mean it was a decent price for the hyper one!"

Serena frowned her eyebrows. "Yeah, but you never know what he did with it. He could've spiked it that could drug your pokémon! Just don't take things from other strangers next time!"

Upon passing through the gate, they arrived at the southern part of Lumiose City. Lines of honking cars were stuck in a traffic jam as their lights shone at the back of each of them. The two heard multiple people arguing against each other in French.

In a red Nissan Micra, a man with a tiny lion pokémon sitting next to him lowered his window.「"Hey, what's the holdup! Can you move it, jerk! I'm in a hurry!"」

The other in the yellow Citroën Xsara lowered his window and screamed,「"Oh shut up! Can't you see that everybody's waiting!"」

The third one in the green Renault Megane held the window frame of his door.「"Yeah just wait in the line, you impatient cunt!"」

The one that started the argument raised his fist at him.「"Come again? You wanna fight, jerkface? My Litleo will burn your face off!"」

「"Alright then, come on! Let's go, Polly, we're gonna kick his ass!"」And he stepped out of his car along with poliwhirl. He opened the trunk at the back, grabbed a baseball bat, and walked to his Nissan where he slammed the front windows. The other opened his door and the four started to brawl against each other.

The two ladies stuck to the walls while keeping their distance from them. Serena turned her head to Shauna with her lips pursed and reached her hand pointing at the fight. "Are you satisfied now?"

"They're just arguing about waiting for so long. Although, it got me curious." She walked to the end of the T-section and rotated to the right. "Military vehicles? Hey, Serena! Take a look!" Military police were patrolling the area, checking the trainer IDs and national IDs or passports of the drivers that wanted to pass through.

"Only the right side of the T-section is jammed. Take a look at the left. There's barely a traffic jam!" Serena then looked at a large white van in the further distance. "Huh?"

Two people wearing caps and red overalls opened the back door of a large white van. They were loading ten cages filled with pidgeys, starleys, and fletchlings. They were chirping while gnawing on the barriers.

"Can you shut up, please?" He shouted while kicking the cage inside.

The woman with him tried to stop while holding his shoulders. "Woah, Fabien, Calm down! There's no need to treat them with violence!"

After loading the last cage, Fabien checked them. "They're all in, Avril, let's go." He closed and locked the door and walked to the van. He sat on the driver's seat while sat next to him on the right. He turned the key to start the engine and left off.

Serena turned her head to a goat pokémon waiting at the shuttle, "I'll be right back, you go find a restaurant for us, okay? " She grabs Fletchy out of her pocket and gave it to Shauna. "Mind if you take for her for a moment? I'll be right back." And she ran to the shuttle where the goat pokémon was standing.

"Wait! Where're you going?" she asked, but Serena couldn't hear her due to the noise coming from the cars. "Serena!"

She hopped on the gogoat, pulling his horns to her. "After that van, go!" she commanded and they ran after it. A man came outside and opened his eyes widely while his jaw went down. "Hey, come back! You have to pay for the 'Gogoat Shuttle'!"

"Sorry, I'm just borrowing him for a little while. I'll bring back him as soon as possible I promise!" She chased the van that went through the tunnel with a '5' sign on it. The van came out of the tunnel in Versal Road and the lanterns shone brightly above the car. Fabien looked in his left mirror as he saw someone chasing him.

"Hey, there's someone behind us," he said. "It's coming closer!"

"What?" Avril trembled "I'll take care of her. Shift to the left lane!" She opened the glove box where she grabbed an MP7 and pulled the lever above the buttstock. She pulled the safety trigger with her thumb, lowered the window while peeking out, and aimed at her as Fabien switched lanes to the left.

"Huh?" she squinted and leaned her head forward. "Woah! To the left, to the left!" Serena ducked her chin down to her coat while steering to the left with the pokémon's horns. Avril started to shoot while she dodged the bullets that flew through her in the air.

"Jeez, that was close!" she shuddered as they both ran behind the van. "Alright, get us closer to the back door!"

Fabien looked at his side mirror again. "Did you lose her?"

"No, she's still behind our tail!" Avril replied.

He held the steering wheel tight while his left foot rested on the clutch and others let go of the gas pedal. "Hold on, I'm about to hit the brakes!" He pushed the clutch and brake pedal and they both leaned forward with a force as the car suddenly stops. The cages at the back rammed against the front of the van.

Both Serena's and gogoat's eyes opened widely. "Woah! H-hold it hold it!" She pulled the horns with all her might while leaning back shutting her eyes. The gogoat bashed his nose against the bumper which started to bleed. Fabien clenched his teeth, pushed the gas with his right foot, and drove away.

Serena stopped him and she got off walking to his front. She put her hands on her knees and examined his nose. "Are you okay?" she worried. The goat pokémon blinked and bleated. "Hm, let me wipe your nose." She grabbed a small pack of tissues out of her bag and picked one out where she cleaned the blood with.

After cleaning, She threw the blood-stained tissue away while the goat bleated and gave her a smile. "Do you think you can still walk or run?" He bleated again and nodded his head while blinking eyes. She hopped up to his back and they both ran after the van.

Fabien and Avril were constantly checking their side mirrors, "No sign of her on our tail." He said. "What about you?

Avril shook his head, "No. At least she's-" She then looked at the road and saw a skiddo coming from the side. "-Merde! Watch out!"

"Huh? Oh!-" The tires slipped as he steered all the way to the left. The van went off the road where the tires came on the soft bed of the grass while the little goat stopped and ran back to the bushes. With full speed did the front end of the van bashed against the tree. Fabien's head slammed against the steering wheel while Avril pushed herself away from the dashboard, only feeling the sudden push against her arms and her head. Her consciousness floated through empty static space as her heartbeat pounded louder through her ears and her body draining away.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Serena asked. The goat pokémon bloated while looking at the smoke coming from the grove. "Hmm, let's take a closer look." Upon arriving at the crash site, Serena got off and both ran to the back door of the van. She grabbed both door handles and pulled it while shutting her eyes tightly, "Come on, open up already!" But the door still remained shut.

She turned to gogoat that was standing there. "Do you think you ram the door open?" The goat wrinkled his nose and bloated. "Look, you see my fist? This is you." He squinted at it while cocking his head. She clenched her fist and punched against the door. "Ouch, like that!" He blinked twice while taking a few steps back, shifted the grass with his right foot, and ran towards the door bashing it open with his head. The bird pokémon in the cages started to chirp at the goat. "Alright Gogoat, let's help them out."

In the meantime, while they were freeing the bird pokémons, Avril opened her eyes while putting her hand on her head. "Ugh, my head…" she mumbled. "…Fabien? Fabien, wake up!" His head laid on the steering wheel bleeding out. "H-hey! Wake up, this ain't no time to sleep!" She kept poking him, but he didn't respond or move a single muscle. She squinted her eyes, picked her MP7 from the car floor and looked at the little LED display on the left side of the submachine. "26 rounds, still enough…" She pulled the handle on her right to open the door and got out of the van while running to the back. She heard a loud siren sound from a distance that came closer. "Huh, Five-O? Damn, I gotta make this quick!"

While coming at the back, she aimed her submachine at Serena screaming, "Hey you! What're you think you're-" A sudden horde of pidgeys, starleys, and fletchlings flew towards her and started to peck. "-Hey, get off me!" She trembled with her hands pulling the trigger and the rounds flew in their sight, killing a small amount of them. The birds kept pecking on her and she fell down dropping her submachine. "Argh, you pieces of shit! Stop it!"

Serena came out of the van putting her hands on her hips. "That's what you get for harassing-" A bright light shone upon them while the birds thrilled from it and flew away.

"Freeze!" A group of armed police surrounded them and aimed their FAMAS F1s at Serena. "Lie down and hands on your head!"

She raised her arms to the top shuddering, "W-w-wait! You're a-aiming at the wrong-"

"Lie down and hands on your head!"

She let herself fall on her knees and laid with her chest on the front while putting her hands on her head. One of the cops slung the straps of his weapon on his back and went to her grabbing his wrists cuffs. He grabbed her hands cuffing them both.

"Hey! Easy the- argh!" She got up on her feet and they both walked out of the grove while the others were examining Avril.

"So, what's the reason you tried to steal the goat, huh?"

"I only borrowed him because these poachers were treating the bird pokémons terribly!"

The owner, that Serena saw before, stepped out of the police car and came to her. "That's the one!" he screamed and grabbed a blood-stained tissue out of his pocket. "Look what she has done to him! Not only did you hurt my gogoat, but you also didn't pay me for the shuttle!"

"Alright, you're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can or will be used against you in the court of law, do you understand?"

"Yeah, but you're still getting the wrong person!"

The cop turned on his chatter and spoke in French.「"Control Y-13, route 5, one in custody."」And took her with him

While the owner went to his gogoat, the other cops walked out with the wounded Avril. Serena broke free and tried to run towards her. "Hey, wait! Where'd you-" Another police grabbed his FAMAS F1 and bashed her in the stomach with its buttstock, causing her to bend over and fall down. "-Ugh! What was that for!" He picked her up and escorted her to the police car where they both stepped in driving away from the scene.

Meanwhile, the others escorted Avril to a woman in a white suit that was waiting for her in front of her grey Peugeot 208. "Thanks for the help, officer," she said and the officers stepped in their cars driving away. She puts her hand on her shoulder. "Avril, what happened?"

"We crashed against a tree," she bewailed. "That girl tried to chase us and then we both got distracted and lost control when a skiddo jumped in front of us."

The white suit's eyebrows frowned. "Hmm… How's Fabien? Is he still alive?"

Avril's head went down and she closed her eyes. "No… He died in the collision."

She then opened both doors of her car on the left side. "We'll deal with her later on. For now, let the authorities handle the court procedure. Get in, we're going back to our base." And they both stepped in, driving to the path that leads to Ambrette Town while the owner hopped on his goat pokémon walking back to Lumiose City.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's post-note**

And that concludes the first chapter. I would like to state that I'm very busy lately, mainly with studies at university. I'm at the 4th block (a three month period system) now and this one is a lot of work. For instance like writing an essay about the financial statement of two companies that you also need to compare or a social problem within the university (referring to the process improvement or guiding people that found it difficult to keep up with the other students).

As a result, this story is put on hiatus until **mid-June** where I will give an update on my status and the next chapter.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kamahiki

_Translations_

Vaffanculo (Fuck off, fuck you)

Merde (Shit)


End file.
